This book is a ready reference on recent innovations in dryland agriculture and reinforces the understanding for its utilization to develop environmentally sustainable and profitable food production systems. It covers the basic concepts and history, components and elements, breeding and modelling efforts, and potential benefits, experiences, challenges and innovations relevant to agriculture in dryland areas around world.

Sheep and wheat are the staples of dryland farms in the Mediterranean zone of the Northern Hemisphere. The commonly used dryland farming system introduced in the 1950s, however, is proving unsustainable. What is needed is an alternative system that is both environmentally sustainable and within the means of most farmers in the region. This book analyzes the quagmire of development on dryland farms to try to find some answers to these issues for scientists in agriculture and economics.

From the beginning of agriculture until about 1950, increased food production came almost entirely from expanding the cropland base. Since 1950, however, the yield per unit of land area for major crops has increased dramatically. Much of the increase in yields was because of increased inputs of energy. Between 1950 and 1985, the farm tractor fleet quadrupled, world irrigated area tripled, and use of fertilizer increased ninefold. Between 1950 and 1985, the total energy used in world agriculture increased 6. 9 times. Irrigation played a particularly important role in the rapid increase in food production between 1950 and 1985. The world's irrigated land in 1950 totaled 94 million hectares but increased to 140 million by 1960, to 198 million by 1970, and to 271 million hectares in 1985. However, the current rate of expansion has slowed to less than 1 % per year. The world population continues to increase and agricultural production by the year 2000 will have to be 50 to 60% greater than in 1980 to meet demands. This continued demand for food and fiber, coupled with the sharp decline in the growth rate of irrigation development, means that much of the additional agricultural production in future years must come from cultivated land that is not irrigated. Agricultural production will be expanded in the arid and semiarid regions because these regions make up vast areas in developing countries where populations are rapidly rising.

"I've seen the Sudan, traveled in South and Central America and been all over Europe, but I've never seen what I've been able to see on this tour [of the Loess Plateau, China]." -Ed Skidmore, soil scientist, Wind Erosion Research Unit of the Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Manhattan, Kansas Overpopulation is at the core of most environmental problems. The impacts of continued growth-with world population reaching 6 billion in October 1999-are felt in most parts of the world. China, the most populous nation, illustrates many of the pivotal problems-and solutions. Although China faces the same effects of overpopulation as the rest of the world, it still feeds over a billion people on a tillable area that allows about one tenth of a hectare per person. The country's efforts to tie together soil and water conservation, dryland farming, and economic development have been largely successful. Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming explores these trials and the lessons learned from them. Copublished with the Soil and Water Conservation Society, this exhaustive text consists of the rewritten proceedings from the Society's conference held in Yangling, Shaanxi, China. It covers dryland farming systems and soil water management, environmental quality and sustainability, and erosion control techniques as they relate primarily to Mainland China. With additional global examples and a balance between conceptual and applied studies, it covers some of the most progressive work in soil erosion control and dryland farming from around the world. Soil exposure while land lies fallow is one of the greatest risks in dryland farming. New procedures and kinds of tillage help control erosion and improve water intake. Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming presents these techniques and technologies to give you a forward-looking perspective into the field, as well as the larger problem of tailoring food production to sustain the population.

Sustainability is extremely important in dryland farming under global climatic change. Technology devised by various agricultural institutions is provided in this book.Variation in environmental factors may influence entire ecological system which may not be ideal for agriculture. Under such global scenario , plant growth is under geopardy. New varieties have to be developed to suit the varied climate or crop strategy in view of crop domain suiting ideal available temperature has to be framed to make dryland farming sustainable .Various agrotechnology needs to be adapted to avoid depletion in productivity. Global climatic change in future may limit the productivity of available varieties. Corporate farming may come to rescue the problem under present scenario. Various agrotechnologies described in this book may help the farmers and planners to overcome the situation in future. Critical problems have been dealt with probable solutions to suit the requirements .Multicropping system , organic farming, , watersheds promotion, reclamation of degraded soils, soil health cards, use of portrals of weather forecast, early harvest on physiological maturity and use of instant remedies timely under unfavourable season shall ease the failure of crop . Long outstanding demand has thus fulfilled with this book.

The Pacific Northwest is an important wheat production region. In 2015, the National Agricultural Statistics Service indicated that Washington, Idaho, and Oregon harvested more than 240 million bushels of wheat, worth an estimated $1.3 billion. The major areas of production in the inland Pacific Northwest include three major land resource areas with distinctive geologic features and soils as defined by the US Department of Agriculture: the Columbia Basin, the Columbia Plateau, and the Palouse and Nez Perce Prairies, all of which are within the Northwestern Wheat and Range Region. It also includes a small portion of dryland cropping in the North Rocky Mountains major land resource area, adjacent to the eastern edge of the Palouse and Nez Perce Prairies. In the dryland areas, which are the focus of this book, wheat is grown in rotation with crop fallow and much smaller acreages of other small grains, legumes, and alternative crops. In light of ongoing and new challenges being faced by farmers in the region it is an opportune time to synthesize research-based advances in knowledge to support farmer decision-making and improve the long-term productive capacity of farmland in the region. This book should be viewed as a resource that launches further inquiry rather than an end point.

Drylands cover 41 percent of the earth' s terrestrial surface. The urgency of and international response to climate change have given a new place to drylands in terms both of their vulnerability to predicted climate change impacts and their potential contribution to climate change mitigation. This book aims to apply the new scientific insights on complex dryland systems to practical options for development. A new dryland paradigm is built on the resources and capacities of dryland peoples, on new and emergent economic opportunities, on inward investment, and on the best support that dryland science can offer.